The course website and blog for the Fall 2016 instance of Penn State's SC200 course

What Are GMOs and Are They Helpful?

A GMO is commonly known as a genetically modified organism. The following article talks about the history of GMOs and DNA. I think it’s an absolutely incredible idea. We discovered DNA almost 150 years ago and sometime from 1868 to 1972 someone thought ” Hey , what if we mixed two different strains of DNA to improve plants and crops?”. The method that is used to create new strands of DNA is called gene splicing. According to the article above, gene splicing is the process of cutting and placing specific DNA proteins into other strands of DNA.

Now I know what everyone’s thinking. Who are we to play God and alter the genes of species? There are many positive things GMOs bring to us. Third world countries still are suffering from starvation. What if rice and beans were able to grow in harsh conditions where it normally wouldn’t thrive? Or if they could enhance the size of the rice or add more nutrients into the grain? What if crops were altered to survive in frigid temperatures? The possibilities are endless.

The following article discusses some of the positive effects of GMOs to the global population and environment. One of the most interesting pieces of information that I read from this article was the possibilities of edible vaccines. A crop could be produced on a mass scale in order to prevent anything from malaria to cholera. The article describes a potato plant that has been tested as a pharmaceutical drug that can prevent diarrhea. I’m excited to see what the future holds for this field, I’d love to see what you all have to say.

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2 thoughts on “What Are GMOs and Are They Helpful?”

Alex,
I have to respectfully disagree with the information that you’ve included in your post. After taking a medical issues and ethics class in high school, the videos and documentaries that I’ve watched completely turned me away from GMO’s; and for good reason. According to this article ( http://responsibletechnology.org/10-reasons-to-avoid-gmos/ ), the percentage of people living with chronics illnesses, as well as allergies, reproductive issues, and autism in the United States jumped from 7% to 9% just 9 years after GMO’s were introduced into our food supply. The reason why this is happening is because the FDA has zero to no regulation on the GMO industry and how it affects our health. In fact, the FDA does even require a single safety study and allows companies to falsely label their products, making customers unaware that what they’re consuming could possibly be dangerous and even life threatening in the long run.

The amount of misinformation out there on GMOs sometimes boggles my mind. Many health advocates are against GMOs because they claim that GMOs are more likely to cause cancer to the consumers. However, there has been no data showing this and on the whole GMOs seem to be perfectly safe for consumption. The real issues that people should have with the industry are the slew of shady business practices that come out of the leaders of GMO food production. Monsanto, one of the biggest names in the game, abuses their patent privileges in order to turn out more of a profit for themselves. If a neighboring field is found to have any of Monsanto’s crops in there, even if a seed were transferred by the wind, Monsanto would have the right to sue them for patent infringement, and often times they do. GMOs are in reality the face of the future for agriculture, however they are being given a poor reputation by the businesses behind them.